by Minton, Toby
Elias checked his watch and started to say something but stopped himself as Max finally spoke.
"I need more sleep," Max said, looking to Becks.
The blocky woman reined in a smile and nodded seriously. "I'll make it happen." She glanced at Ace. "Tess?"
"Follow me," Ace replied, smiling at Max like she'd expected nothing less.
Nikki stepped down into the bay as they approached, moving to one side to get out of their way. Ace winked at her and squeezed her shoulder as she passed. As she reached the top of the steps, she called back, "I'll see you bright and early for PT."
"You're coming with us?"
"Nope," Ace said with a shake of her head. She walked out the door without looking back.
Becks chuckled to herself as she followed up the steps.
Nikki expected Max to pass by without even a glance, but he stopped beside her at the bottom of the steps, looking at her like he was reading a novel behind her head.
After a few seconds, he said, "She'll be OK now. Don't worry."
Then he walked up the steps and into the hall, leaving Nikki thoroughly confused.
Room for Growth
Chapter 30
Padre
From the cockpit of the transport, Padre glanced up just as Ace's brother stopped to speak to Nikki. He watched their exchange, forgetting his task for the moment as he smiled at the confusion clouding Nikki's face. Max certainly lived up to his reputation.
Lowering his eyes, Padre returned his focus to the pre-flight instrument check. Gram kept the shuttle in prime working order to the point where some steps were triple redundancies, but Padre performed them anyway. He was happy to cut a corner or two with a ground vehicle, but when it came to flying he insisted on double- or triple-checking everything. If a ground vehicle broke down, you adapted. If an airship failed—all you could do was hold onto your seat and hope for the best. Padre wasn't comfortable leaving anything to hope, especially not people's lives.
He lifted his gaze to see Nikki walk out of his sight line toward Elias. She looked worn out but more positive than he'd seen her in days. After today's sparring session, he'd feared they'd finally pushed her a step too far, but already she was bouncing back.
He wasn't surprised. If there was one thing he could count on with Nikki, it was her survival instincts.
He returned his gaze to the console, Cole's words running through his head, again. He'd replayed their conversation many times, and each time he reached the same conclusion—Cole was right.
He wasn't right about Padre and Nikki being anything other than friends. There he was off target. Padre was too old for Nikki. Simple as that. Even entertaining the thought of a romantic relationship with a girl her age was inappropriate, regardless of how special she might be. Regardless of how either of them might feel.
Cole was right about Padre carrying too much guilt for Michael's death. He'd borne that burden for too long, and he'd kept Nikki at arm's length while doing so. He did owe her an apology, but not for his part in Michael's death. He'd finally made his peace with that failure. He owed her an apology for not being there for her afterward.
This op should give him a wide window to set things right. Where they were going, they'd have nothing but time and space. They got along too well for him to let their friendship wither.
"Don't look at me." Nikki's voice drifted up the steps from the hold. "This girl's ready. I'm waiting on you divas."
Padre let a smile reach his lips as he called up the nav system and started mapping their trip. They'd planned a circuitous route, one that would turn a four-hour hop into a seven-hour tour, but nobody was complaining. Hindering the creatures' tracking of Nikki and Impact was well worth the extra time.
An indicator light changed on the console as the cargo door started closing. A few seconds later Padre heard Elias start up the steps. Something about the major's gait sounded off, enough so to make Padre turn. He glanced back to see the last person he wanted to see walk into the cockpit.
"Hope you like a wild ride, mate," Corso said around his crooked grin.
Padre didn't bother responding.
The thief wasn't fazed by his silence, unfortunately. He slithered into the pilot seat and started readjusting the control setup with a quiet chuckle to himself.
Padre wasn't surprised. He'd configured the array to suit Elias. It made sense that Corso would change it. No doubt his preferred setup differed. Everything about Corso differed. Padre wasn't even surprised that Corso had managed to weasel his way into this op. Where Nikki went, the thief was sure to make an appearance.
Corso's tendency to show up at just the right time was one of his few commendable traits. It was also a little too convenient. The man showed up right when Nikki needed him most, without fail. No one could be that lucky—but they could be that underhanded. Electronic surveillance hidden in the base, the vehicles, or even on Nikki's person were a much more plausible explanation for Corso's timely appearances.
Padre made a mental note to do a full sweep when they got back to base. He wouldn't remove any devices he found, of course—Corso's timing had saved Nikki's life more than once. Tonight, for instance. The thief had been returning from a job offshore in a "liberated" Russian assault shuttle when the team was scrambling to get backup to the theater. He had been practically right on top of the theater when he checked in. Could have been a coincidence, but Padre doubted it.
He couldn't fault the man's results, but his methods were another matter. He needed to keep a closer eye on the thief. A little careful research into Corso's recent movements and jobs couldn't hurt either. Corso's presence on this op gave Padre a window to get more details out of the man, to see if his stories had any holes. Good thing too, because the thief's presence slammed shut the other window.
With Corso around, setting things right with Nikki would be next to impossible.
Nikki
The ramp touched down on the soft ground without a sound, and Nikki followed Sam out into a cold, quiet clearing painted in the harsh light of the transport's floods. The light didn't penetrate far beyond the first row of tall, narrow pines surrounding the clearing, just enough for Nikki to tell they looked a lot like the trees they'd left behind at the base. Had they gone anywhere at all?
She stepped off the ramp onto a thick carpet of decaying needles and persistent grass, the ground giving under her feet in a way that reminded her of the training room mats—mats she wouldn't get thrown onto for a while. That thought conjured a smile, if a tired one. She'd dozed here and there throughout the flight, but not enough to make a dent in the fatigue she'd built up.
Even though she hadn't slept soundly, she still had no idea how long they'd been traveling. The sky was still just as dark as when they'd left, with that heavy silence in the air that said dawn wasn't far off. She failed to stifle a yawn and followed Sam toward the porch of what looked like a good sized cabin at the edge of the floods' reach.
There was something comforting about the way the ground cushioned her every step, like they'd landed on a giant bed. She closed her eyes and groaned at the thought. Nope. Not enough sleep at all.
She bumped into Sam and blinked her eyes open. He'd stopped a good pace from the steps to the porch. He gave her a knowing look and motioned for her to stay put. He, of course, didn't look tired at all as he walked up the steps on silent feet to check out the porch.
They were supposed to be going somewhere safe, or so Elias had said between two of Nikki's naps. Watching Sam perform his quick sweep of the area, Nikki began to suspect she'd dreamed that conversation. Sam looked like he expected something nasty to jump out at him at any moment. He gave the porch a final glance then eased the door open and disappeared into the darkness beyond.
Nikki shifted her feet, disturbing a tiny jumping something, and swallowed another yawn. This didn't seem like the time or place for a nap. The growing uneasiness in her belly said as much. She was getting pretty sick of feeling so nervous and jumpy all the tim
e. She was actually starting to consider a tactical retreat to the transport when light bloomed inside the cabin. A second later, Sam appeared in the doorway looking completely at ease. He waved Nikki in with a shadow of a smile.
She climbed the steps, crossed the sturdy porch to the front door, which was flanked by two low, heavy chairs made of logs and what looked like taut leather. Then she stepped into another world.
One large room dominated most of the cabin, a tidy open space with a peaked roof supported by rough-hewn logs. A loft cut across a third of the room forming a divider of sorts between the dining area underneath it and the living area spread across the rest of the space. The furnishings, for the most part, looked handmade—a broad, polished dining table and ladder-back chairs, an uncomfortable looking seat resembling the log-and-leather chairs out front, several leaning racks Nikki couldn't put a purpose to, and three identical rocking chairs, each looking decades older than the last.
Then there were the sore thumbs—a newish looking folding card table, single folding metal chair included, and a shiny new entertainment display, complete with a cheap plastic deck chair facing it, the kind of relic you'd find all over the Vegas free zone.
The chair was classed up with an Indian-style blanket draped across it—Sam Indian, the scarce kind, not Anella Indian, the covering-a-third-of-the-world kind. In fact, Indian blankets were draped here and there throughout the place, including a huge one hanging on the wall opposite the big fireplace. Nikki's tired brain was starting to process a pattern. Throw up a few mounted animal heads and this place could be an old west museum.
Elias and Corso walked in behind Nikki, each toting a couple of bags, Corso looking none too thrilled about it. Impact followed with the crate of produce, sporting his usual borderline-grumpy expression.
Elias glanced around with a nod then looked to Sam. "What's the setup?"
"Main bedroom in the loft," Sam said with a glance up. "Through the door," he gestured toward a darkened doorway Nikki had overlooked, "you have the kitchen and pantry to the right, second bedroom and bathroom to the left. Separate garage and workshop off the south-west corner."
Off the south-west—when had he seen that? Nikki had been right behind him except for the few seconds he'd been inside in the dark. Not even Impact could have gotten outside, scooted around for a look-see and gotten back in to turn on the lights that fast.
Elias nodded, his eyes roaming around the museum. "Padre, you and Impact take watch the rest of the night. Work it out between you. Whoever's not on watch can bed down here in the main room. Corso and I will take the loft. Nikki?"
"Yep," she responded quickly, widening her eyes. They'd started to drift shut for a second.
"Second bedroom is yours tonight," Elias said.
"Because I have boobs?" She gave him a look that dared him to say yes, or no, or anything, really. "I don't need my own room. And I can watch as well as anybody."
Elias smiled, so did Corso behind him, but the two looks couldn't have been more different. Luckily for them, and surprisingly for her, neither look made her want to slug them.
"You can," Elias agreed. "And you will. There will be no freeloading on this op." He shot Corso a significant glance, which the darker man ignored as he perused the decor.
"But you're dead on your feet, Nikki," Elias continued. "You're no good to me like this. You had a rough night. Get some rest. We'll work out a full duty rotation tomorrow."
She couldn't argue with that. Well, she could, but she'd have to stay awake to do it. Instead she said, "Aye-aye, Major," complete with a salute. She was getting good at those.
She shouldered her bag and headed for the second bedroom. Turned out it wasn't hard to find. She stepped through the darkened doorway into a short hall with the bedroom at one end and the kitchen at the other, just like Sam had said. She was confident the two doors in between were pantry and bathroom, also just like Sam had said. She walked to the dark bedroom, and after a minute of fumbling, two curses, and a crash, she managed to switch on a lamp.
The furniture in the bedroom definitely belonged in the same family as the rest—polished logs, blankets that looked handmade, dream catcher hanging over the bed—but with a kid's touch. A lacrosse stick hung on the wall by the closet door next to a couple of posters for bands Nikki didn't recognize but liked the looks of.
She'd always wanted to try lacrosse. It looked like her kind of sport. In the free zones, finding games that required so much equipment was next to impossible. Soccer and football were the easy ones to get into. Football was too stop-and-start though. Too much resetting and plan-making for Nikki's taste. Soccer though, that was her speed—all out, free-flowing, made for people with stamina, speed, and the ability to act and react on the fly. She excelled at it, just like she imagined she would at lacrosse. Same idea as soccer, but with sticks. How could it not be fun?
She dropped her bag on the bed and knelt to examine the thing she'd knocked off the dresser. Getting closer didn't help her identify what it was. It looked like a kid's sculpture of a dog, or a deer—something four-legged, anyway—made out of horn or bone of some kind. It was also broken. The fall had cost it a leg.
Nikki carefully picked up both pieces and stood. She turned the pieces this way and that, trying to see if there was a trick to fitting the pieces together with the tiny metal posts, or if it was just a jam-and-hope job. Up close, the thing was a little unsettling. The tapering cone shape of the horn gave the head and the limbs a sharp, pointed look that reminded Nikki of the creatures hunting her.
What the hell was this place?
"That's Charlie," Sam said from the doorway.
Nikki looked up with a start. She hadn't heard him approach.
"What?"
Sam's gaze stayed on the…Charlie. "It was supposed to be a deer." He looked up at her and shrugged. "I was nine."
"You were—" Nikki closed her mouth. She studied Charlie for another few seconds then took a more careful look around the room, the other pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. Sam hadn't scouted at super speed in the dark. He'd known the layout already.
"This is your place."
Sam nodded. "My grandfather's, but when he passed, he left it to me. I grew up here, for the most part."
He looked around the room, his expression more at ease than she was used to seeing. "I stay here when I'm not at the base."
Nikki looked back at the broken sculpture, trying to blend this place into her picture of Sam. It was a little much for her tired brain. "Sorry about your… Why Charlie?"
He laughed softly. "My grandfather started teaching me about his people the first day I came to live here," Sam said. "Medicine, the power of names, honoring every kill—but I was a kid. An angry, hurt kid. I didn't take it seriously for a long time."
Nikki nodded and held up the creepy sculpture. "Gotcha. Charlie."
Sam nodded. "Charlie."
They looked at each other for a minute without saying anything, then Sam held out his hand. A tiny over-the-ear com unit rested on his palm, the pricey kind the team used on special missions.
"What did you name that one?" she asked.
He smiled again and even gave one of his silent laughs before he nodded for her to take it. "Elias wants you to keep this with you at all times while we're here."
"Really?"
"Really," Sam replied. "Major's orders."
"Great," she grumbled. She set the broken sculpture back on the dresser and took the com. She studied it for a minute, rolling it around on her hand. It was actually pretty slick, and the fact that she'd been issued real gear for this "op" made her feel like part of the team—a real part of the team. But no need to tell them that.
"Is it weird that I'm sleeping in your bed?" she asked instead, surprising both of them. Her heart double-stepped, her eyes widening as she realized how that sounded. She was way too tired. And way too citified now if she thought of beds as private possessions. She'd slept in shared beds her whole life.
She couldn't think of anything to say for a minute.
Sam did a better job of recovering. "Should be comfortable enough. And the bedding is fresh. A family in town looks after the place. I let them know I was coming."
Nikki ducked her head and flopped onto the bed to test it out, not to cover an unfamiliar blush. Not at all. The bed was pretty nice. Maybe a little soft compared to what she was used to, but her body wasn't complaining. Already her eyes were trying to drift closed.
"Get some rest," Sam said. He clicked off the lamp. At least she assumed that's what the click was. She didn't open her eyes to check.
"You're safe here, Nikki," he said a few seconds later, his voice sounding farther away. "I have the watch."
That felt nice. She mumbled a response and rolled over to nestle deeper into the pillow. The bed smelled like Sam. The whole room did. Or maybe he smelled like it. Maybe this was where he got the smell that was him. Sweet pine, leather, dried herbs, a memory of wood smoke and warmth.
She could get used to this place.
Chapter 31
Nikki
Nikki slept through the first few beeps. She was sleeping hard, so hard she wasn't even dreaming. Hard enough to ignore the million little sounds the cabin seemed to make throughout the night. Hard enough to block out any short-lived noise.
The beeping kept going though. Over and over. Like it was testing her.
She tried convincing herself it was a bird or a cricket, but if that was the case, it was the dumbest, most repetitive creature that ever lived. It had to be man-made. Only a man could be that annoying.
She opened her eyes just enough to see the earpiece flashing on the nightstand.